NAMES & FACES — It all started with a simple video rental. Who knows where it will end? — Potomac Video store clerk Charles Williamson, 28, posted a message on his blog, Freelance Genius, Dec. 23 that described how he set up a movie rental account for MSNBC host Tucker Carlson at the MacArthur Boulevard store the day before.

US diluting Iraq surge, general says — The military mastermind of President George W Bush's new troop "surge" strategy for Iraq has hit out at signs that the Pentagon is watering down the proposal for political reasons. — "You cannot try and do this piecemeal.

THE FOLKS AT CNN'S "RELIABLE SOURCES" just emailed me this excerpt from today's show transcript with UPI reporter Pamela Hess: … Better that the story should be missed, and the country screwed, than that a reporter might look unacceptably friendly to Bush! — UPDATE: Read this, too.

Chuck Hagel Smacks Lieberman: Questions his competency — Chuck Hagel plastered Holy Joe on Meet the Press this morning and it's about time somebody called him on his garbage. Lieberman got on his soapbox and tried to tell us that Bush's implementation of the McCain Doctrine is our only hope …

Chuck Hagel bitchslaps Lieberman over scare comments — Finally someone calls out George Bush's favorite [Democrat] senator on his nonsense. — I almost threw a brick into my television this morning listening to the junior seantor as he puckered his lips and make Presidefnt Bush proud.

We can't surrender to the doves — Anti-war liberals turned out to be right about Iraq, but they shouldn't necessarily be regarded as foreign policy sages. — I DON'T WANT to accuse American doves of rooting for the United States to lose in Iraq because I know they love their country and understand the dire consequences of defeat.

Obama, McCain square off on war — Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who supports President Bush's new deployment of U.S. troops in Iraq, and Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who is calling for a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, faced the first of a likely long series …

IS FOX SET TO BLOW THE NUKES ON '24'? — As Washington continues to raise concerns about terror threats on The Homeland — a recent CIA report outlined a scenerio of possible "series of explosions using 'low charge' nuclear weapons" — Hollywood and FOX-TV are set to up the ante with the new season of 24!

Terror: 'We're Going to Get Hit' — Intel director john Negroponte gave Congress a sobering assessment last week of the continued threats from groups like Al Qaeda and Hizbullah. But even gloomier comments came from Henry Crumpton, the outgoing State Department terror coordinator.

Picking Up the Pieces — It was surreal how disconnected President Bush was the other night, both from Iraq's horrifying reality and America's anguish over this unnecessary, mismanaged and now unwinnable war. Indeed, most Americans seem far ahead of the president.

The Best We Can Hope For — NOBODY will quibble with President Bush's line Wednesday night that in Iraq, "Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved; there will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship." — Of course, that calls to mind …

Nice work, if you can get it — Jacob Hacker's Health Care for America plan, as summarized by Ezra KIein: … Yes, that includes prescription drugs. And the price is right: … I'm (1) enthusiastic and (2) skeptical. It sounds great; in fact, it sounds too good to be true.

The Imperial Presidency — Why is the United States poised to try Jose Padilla as a dangerous terrorist, long after it has become clear that he was just the wrong Muslim in the wrong airport on the wrong day? — Why is Washington still holding hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay …

Why Europe Abandoned Israel — Why is Israel viewed so differently in Europe than in the United States? To argue as the title of this article does, that Europe has abandoned Israel, is to suggest that it was once in its corner. And in fact, this is true.

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